Hi all,
Using a throwaway for this so it's not associated to main account. Story is pretty much in the title. In Dec 2023, I was hospitalized for a day for what was supposed to be observation status for an acute problem I was having. Apparently, when they did my admission, they admitted me as inpatient instead of observation. Unfortunately, my admission was Friday night-into-Saturday, so no case manager/social worker to change it before I was discharged. The Monday after, I get a call from insurance company saying my pre-authorization was denied because I didn't meet inpatient criteria. I talked to the hospital in December about appealing it, they said they'd appeal with insurance company and to disregard bills till it's over. However, I've now started getting these 14k bills from the hospital again this past week, which makes me think the appeal was denied. This whole thing is crazy to me since this is basically all caused by them just admitting me as inpatient instead of observation. I don't have 14k to just throw away. Any advice on what to do next? I'm going to call to make sure that appeal was denied, but I feel like it's almost a guarantee. I'm just extremely frustrated (1) because it was one stupid coding thing that caused the denial (2) I don't have 14k to give to the hospital.
Of note, ER was covered appropriately as were physician charges. Just the hospital ones because of this ridiculous coding mishap.
Thanks a ton! Any advice/help is appreciated.
original posted by Wise_Weakness_4030 to r/personalfinance on Wed, 06 Mar 2024 19:08:26 GMT.